Light of the Soul
by tatantyler
Summary: Mitakihara-2, the 'City of Glass', is many things: home to NERV Headquarters and the Geofront, a feeding ground for Witches, a battlefield for Angels, and home to four magical girls and three pilots.


_Light of the Soul_

Ch. 1.1: "Arrival of the Third"

–

All was quiet on the coast of Mitakihara.

Tanks lined up along the shore and harbor, their drivers and gunners nervously eying the horizon for... something. No one knew why so many of them were deployed; all they were told is to "expect a very large target to emerge from the ocean".

Their attentions turned to a fleet of battleships, now arriving and stopping just off the shore.

Men and women scurried about on their decks, most moving to the edge, trying to see the target they had been briefed on. None of them saw it; they all returned below deck, and soon enough all was quiet again.

Not half a minute later, the silence was broken by the low rumble of a massive figure rising from the deeps.

–

Evacuation alarms wailed. Men and women all over Mitakihara looked up from their work, play, or food, and started to move. The streets filled with people anxiously walking to designated shelters.

And, throughout all of this, Sayaka was getting worried. Where was Hitomi?

For some reason, she'd left right when the alarms had sounded, saying that she "needed someone to pick her up."

That was kinda weird. Who was going to pick her up?

She didn't follow her friend, though, if only because she respected Hitomi's privacy.

That, and she still had to find Madoka, her brother was getting worried from all the noise... oh. There.

"Oh, Madoka! There you are... why are you still in your dress?"

Madoka waved to her... then looked down... then looked back up at her friend and brother, sheepishly.

Sayaka simply smiled back in response, then went to join her friend, Tatsuya in tow.

"Eeeeeehh... we can just pass your dress off as cosplay or something, right?"

Madoka simply shrugged.

"I suppose so?"

"Eh, works well enough for me. Aaanyway, where's the shelter?"

"I think... it's... over... there? I think? We can probably just follow the people, right?"

–

_"We're sorry, but your call could not be completed as dialed due to the special state of emergency declared at 14:05 today..."_

Hitomi Shizuki frowned. The public telephones, as well as her cell phone, were all out. No public transportation was running. She had to meet somebody... somewhere, at around 3 PM.

And she had no idea what to do next.

She pulled out the letter that she had received a few days ago.

_"Dear Ms. Shizuki,"_

_ "You have been selected for an undisclosed government technology program._

_ You will be picked up at the following location..."_

_ …_

_ "Transport will _not _be provided for any persons other than you._

_ Attached is a photo of your escort, as well as an official identification card. Do not lose it._

_ If any evacuations are called before you can be picked up, ignore them._

_ You will still be picked up."_

True to the letter, a small plastic ID card was attached. She quickly pocketed it.

A photo of a woman was attached as well. She had dark pink hair and eyes, and was dressed in a business outfit. She had an air about her that fit her style of dress, somehow. She seemed.. calm and collected, yet... cool.

For some reason, she reminded Hitomi of her friend, Madoka.

Actually, if she squinted a bit, she could see a bit of a similarit-

_whoooooo—BLAM!_

The photo in her hands was nearly blown away by two missiles passing directly over her head.

The blast from their exhaust pushed Hitomi to the ground, staring in shock at the smoke trails they left behind.

Fortunately for her, her pickup arrived right on the trail of the missiles.

The sleek, gray car had slid to a stop just in front of her, and the passenger side door opened.

Inside the car, she could see the woman from the photo.

"Ah, you must be Hitomi. Get in. Quickly!"

–

Sachiel strode along calmly, not noticing all of the tiny little pinpricks gently poking and prodding at its AT Field. There was no need to; the Angel knew that no Lilin weapon had a chance against the Light of Its Soul.

Even so, though, it used an arm to swat away one of the passing VTOLs, sending it careening to the ground, almost in two pieces.

Flies were still annoying, even if they were ultimately harmless.

–

_"This is Falcon-Five, all missiles away, direct hits on all of them! No effect on target, repeat no effe-*kzzzht*"_

_ "This is the Fourth Armored Battalion, the target is headed right for us! We're firing all ammunition!"_

_ "Ground Attack Station Seven to command, we've lost contact with station Six! Repeat, station Six is silent- Oh god, it's turning this way! Evacuate, everyone! Get out of he-"_

_ "This is Falcon One, our flight's getting wiped out here! Requesting immediate suppo-"_

The chatter over the JSSDF tactical communications network painted a picture of pure chaos.

The conventional forces were getting slaughtered wholesale, even as they fired every last round, launched every last missile, and dropped every ton of explosive they had on the target.

Three generals watched on with horror and frustration from the safety of their headquarters.

_"Target is now approaching Mitakihara-2 City Limits. ETA five minutes before it reaches the city proper."_

_ "First Defensive Fleet, reporting from just outside Mitakihara Harbor."_

"Finally! First Fleet, hit it with everything you've got! Heaviest armaments first! We can't let it get to the city!"

_"Roger that, firing now, sir... no effect on target. Repeat, no effect on target."_

"Dammit. Where's the contingency plan?!"

_"Central, Starlight Flight here. Contingency plan's almost on-site now, ETA... two minutes."_

"Copy that, Starlight Flight. Prepare to deploy the contingency as soon as possible."

_ –_

Hitomi watched the battle rage on from the car, currently driving down a road on the outskirts of Mitakihara. From what she could see, it wasn't going very well. Explosions rocked and covered its surface almost constantly, but somehow it could still go on. It didn't even seem wounded. And it still seemed to be headed her way.

A sudden lull in the fighting made her pause. _Wait, why would they_...

The woman also seemed to notice, because she suddenly stopped, and looked out the window.

"Wait, what are they doing... Oh dear. Get down, they're going to use an N2 Mine!"

With that, she suddenly jumped on top of Hitomi.

"Wait, an N2-"

Hitomi's question was interrupted by a flash of light, and a roaring explosion.

–

The three generals looked on, triumphant. There was no way _anything _could survive being at ground zero of an N2 detonation; it was pretty much physically impossible.

One of the generals looked back, at two people in particular.

"Hehe... Sorry, Miss, but it looks like we won't need your science project after all."

"There's no way anything could have survived that!"

"We'll be on our way out... _after _we confirm our kill."

The two figures addressed simply remained where they were, stock still and waiting expectantly.

_"Sensor self-repair systems at ninety-five percent completion. Sensors should be coming back online any minute now."_

–

Sachiel groaned.

That blast had actually hurt it somewhat.

It knew that the blast couldn't do enough damage to seriously damage its Core.

That didn't stop it from being painful.

Fortunately for the Angel, its body had already begun to regenerate and repair itself.

Burnt flesh was replaced with new flesh, the gills on its legs opened to accept cooling air, and even the mask on its face had been replaced, and shed much like a snake's skin.

The Angel knew that it had to keep moving, even now. The flies had come back, and another blast could come at any time.

And so the Angel continued its march on Mitakihara, now pushed faster by a slight tinge of fear.

–

The world was spinning and twisting after the N2 blast hit them.

"-ou okay? Hitomi?"

Hitomi blinked twice, and she stopped seeing double.

The other woman in the car was standing over her. Apparently she had pulled Hitomi out of the car... which was now on its side. Hitomi was lying on bare dirt, in an empty patch of land on the side of the road. The car had obviously been blown off the road by the shockwave and sent tumbling; if the woman hadn't covered Hitomi, she could have been seriously injured. Her head hurt slightly, and her mouth seemed to be filled with dirt.

"Are you okay, Hitomi?"

"I- plegh, pluh-"

Hitomi stopped talking for a moment, trying to expel the dirt from her mouth.

"-I'm.. I'm fine. Thanks, Miss...?"

"Junko Kaname. No need for thanks, it's part of my job."

Hitomi stood up, and dusted herself off.

The woma- Miss Kaname motioned for Hitomi to come help her push the car back upright.

"Now, could you help me with the car?"

–

A few minutes later, the two were back on the road.

Hitomi was busy thinking about Miss Kaname.

Madoka barely remembered her parents. They suddenly left her and Tatsuya when she was about five for reasons she didn't know.

According to Madoka, her parents hadn't even signed any papers; she had opted to keep the name as a link to her parents. The two of them were left with a few distant family friends- the Sakuras, if Hitomi remembered correctly.

For a time, it was great; the two children of the Sakura family warmed up quickly to the two orphaned Kaname children. The older sibling, Kyoko, had grown particularly fond of Madoka.

Then, suddenly, the Sakura mother and father, as well as Kyoko's younger sibling... vanished. Without a trace, or any bodies.

Kyoko and Madoka drifted apart not long after, with Madoka and Tatsuya making their way to Mitakihara, where they were eventually given shelter and funding to live on by... someone.

Hitomi wasn't really sure who; presumably, it was the Japanese government.

Hitomi's musings were interrupted by Miss Kaname's voice.

"Are you okay? You're being really quiet. I expected a lot more questions."

"Oh, um..."

_Are you really Madoka's mother? Why did you leave her? Do you know how much pain you've caused her? All the things she's been through? Why would you do a thing like that? Why the Sakuras? Where are you taking me? Why are you taking me there? Why-_

"Miss Kaname? I do have one question."

"Fire away."

"Um.. do you have a daughter?"

–

The question startled her. It practically shook her to the core.

_Wait, how does she know about- this was in her file, wasn't it? Shit, I forgot about that._

"I.. er..."

She looked to her left. Hitomi was simply sitting there, expectantly.

(There was a bit of anger showing on her face, which Junko noted.)

Junko simply sighed, and leaned forward a bit.

"...yes, I have a daughter and a son. Madoka and Tatsuya. I believe you're acquainted with them?"

Hitomi's eyes widened a bit, and her brows creased into a frown.

"Yes, I'm friends with Madoka. She's told me all about her parents who abandoned her."

Junko simply leaned forward a bit more, then straightened herself.

They were approaching HQ.

"I'm sure you have questions about _that _topic. I'm afraid they'll have to wait for now, though.

We're here."

–

As the car passed through a set of thick blast doors, Hitomi caught sight of a name: NERV.

As much as she wanted to ask about Miss Kaname and Madoka, Hitomi knew that she had more important questions to ask.

"Where are we?"

Miss Kaname seemed to relax a bit at this.

The car slowed to a stop on what appeared to be a large staircase.

"This is NERV, a clandestine organization. Have you heard anything about it?"

She had actually heard a lot about it, though most was speculation- no one seemed to know exactly what it did. Over the past year or so, as the agency began to make itself known, rumors had abounded that it was alternately: a secret R&D laboratory, an agency created to carry out secret, "black" military operations, the headquarters or a front for the Illuminati, the true force behind any number of wars and disasters (including Second Impact), a secret gathering of magicians, wizards and witches, or at the center of a religious conspiracy, amongst other things.

All anyone seemed to know was that it had a lot of funding from the UN (to some people's dismay) and it seemed to be creating _something_. A steady stream of materials seemed to flow into its many entrances all over Mitakihara-2, each truck and boat coming out empty regardless of how much stuff it carried in.

It also seemed to employ many, many people, of all kinds; most of the people in Hitomi's class seemed to have parents that worked for NERV. Even her mother worked for NERV, and her mother appeared to be pretty important, to boot. Her teacher had actually told her that her mother did very important work for NERV and mankind.

"Well, all I know is that NERV is really important to the UN, and that my mother does important work there."

Miss Kaname grimaced slightly.

"Well, I suppose you could say that..."

–

The three generals looked at the Commander and Subcommander of NERV, defeated.

The N2 detonation had minimal effect on the target, only managing to make it stop for a minute.

And now it had resumed its march on Mitakihara with greater haste than before.

They had no time to waste. The lead general, the one in the center, looked down.

"As of now, operational command against this target will be transferred to you and your team."

"It's obvious that none of our weaponry has any effect on this target."

"It's time to show us what you've got!"

The leader silenced the other two with a wave of his hand.

The Commander, on the other hand, simply smiled.

"I understand."

The leader scowled. Why did she look so smug?

How could she be so sure of herself?

"You are our last line of defense. Tell me, Miss Shizuki, can you stop this thing?"

Commander Mitsuki Shizuki's smile widened slightly.

She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

"Of course. That's what NERV's for, gentlemen."

–

"Oh, by the way, Hitomi? Did you bring your ID card?"

Hitomi fumbled around in her pockets a bit... ah. There.

"Er... here."

The card had nothing on it identifying it as belonging to Hitomi; the only information contained on it was a simple serial number, as well as a barcode and a label: "VIP Identification".

"Hm... what else was I supposed to do... oh, right. You'd better read this."

Miss Kaname handed Hitomi a green book, with _Welcome to NERV _printed in large font on the cover.

"Welcome to NERV? Will I be working for them?"

Miss Kaname simply remained silent.

Hitomi continued.

"Well, I suppose that's just like Mother... so it doesn't really surprise me."

"You don't really get along with her too well, do you?"

Before either of them could say another word, the tunnel opened, and the car began sailing through the skies of the Geofront atop the overhead rail system.

Hitomi pressed herself against the glass, staring down at the landscape below with childlike fascination.

It was as if someone had taken a chunk of the Earth and placed it underground. There were trees, hills, and even a massive lake in the center of the Geofront. The underground portions of Mitakihara-2's buildings hung from the ceiling, and the tracks for the hastily-added evacuation "shelter-mobiles" descended from above in a great spiral pattern. In contrast, on the surface below, NERV's pyramid headquarters stood tall, with spotlights ringed around it.

–

And now they were on yet another rail system, this one ferrying them somewhere inside NERV's massive headquarters.

Hitomi didn't know where they were going.

She seriously doubted whether Miss Kaname knew either.

"We just passed gate W-52, so that means that we should be on... route seven. I swear, the rail system here seems to be designed to confuse people!"

While Miss Kaname was busy cursing the failures of the rail system's design team, Hitomi noticed a passing sign marked "Route Eight".

"Um, Miss Kaname? Are we lost? We seem to be on route eight."

_Now _Miss Kaname was panicking, rotating the map left and right frantically.

"Wait, what? How did.. did we turn or something?! And I'm new here, okay?"

–

_"Left leg systems completely thawed. Maintenance team, returning to surface."_

"_Attention, Dr. Saotome: Arrival of Lt. Col. Junko Kaname confirmed in Sector 2._"

Doctor Saotome surveyed the maintenance team she was leading.

"_Eh. They can handle this.", _she thought.

"Okay, Crew Alpha, I want you to thaw out the left arm systems. Don't forget to chart the apoptosis and mitosis data during the procedures. Crew Beta, thaw out the right leg systems. Again, don't forget to chart the data. Crew Theta, prep the Entry Plug insertion system. I'm heading out to find our wayward Operations Director. It looks like she got lost again..."


End file.
